Dream Adaptations

[Anonymous No.9602457]

I would literally give my left nut (really healthy, by the way, heavy producer) if Paul Thomas Anderson adapted Blood Meridian.

I was watching The Master and the beginning where Freddy is sort of jumping from job to job getting into fights really reminds me of the beginning of this novel. The Master in general has lots of parallels, strong enough to be intentional. Also, the desolate desert landscapes of There Will Be Blood and his insistence to use Jonny Greenwood for every movie now doesn't hurt.

[Anonymous No.9602670]

>>9602457
>Orson Welles never got to adapt Heart of Darkness like he dreamed

sad

[Anonymous No.9602738]

>>9602670
at least we got Apocalypse Now

[Anonymous No.9602768]

>>9602457
The sad thing is that Hollywood directors seem to have some sort of "demarcation" when it comes to adapting popular authors: the Coens with McCarthy (which I guess Ridley Scott kind of violated with The Counselor which turned out to be bad incidentally), David Cronenberg with Don Delillo, and now PTA with Thomas Pynchon.

You know what I think PTA really should do? Infinite Jest in a mini series, because he was taught by David Foster Wallace. Though PTA's devotion to cinema seems absolute. He has little interest in it, I think.

[Anonymous No.9602770]

>>9602768
Also Magnolia is Infinite Jest in terms of the 90's fixations.

[Anonymous No.9602778]

>>9602457
The book is not 'unfilmable' in any strong sense, but it certainly is not conducive to being translated to a visual medium. Sure corncob paints a lot of pretty vistas, but his descriptions, which again and again particularize the landscape and the characters in it, would likely be flattened by long sequences of landscape cinematography.

That's only one problem of several.

If the aim of an adaptation would be to translate McCarthy's book faithfully to the screen, I'm not sure it can be done in any rigorous way. When the Coens filmed No Country for Old Men, they were sensitive to the fact that McCarthy had produced a piece of fiction that almost already worked as a screenplay. I would argue that if there was any book of McCarthy's that does not lend itself to film in this way, it's Blood Meridian.

It's largely a question of tone, I believe. I watched Lisandro Alonso's "Jauja" a little while back, and it crossed my mind that it had some tonal elements that could make for an interesting take on Blood Meridian.

I'm curious to know what these parallels are, particularly the ones strong enough to suggest that PTA was intentionally mirroring Blood Meridian. I've watched the film a number of times and nothing of the sort ever struck me.

[Anonymous No.9602779]

>>9602770
Magnolia is Short Cuts. Although, I can see some DFW in there.

[Anonymous No.9602817]

>>9602779
Sure, what I mean is literary connections. Also note the cloud and blue skies in the cover of IJ and the chapter headings of Magnolia.

Apparently DFW hated Magnolia because he felt it was the epitome of "graduate thesis", but he loved Boogie Nights. I wonder if he remembered teaching PTA.

[Anonymous No.9602823]

>>9602778
Freddy and the Kid. The Master and the Judge. The former is violent and unstable but ready to follow. The latter is wise and powerful but observed at a distance, mystical. Different characters and stories to be sure, but the way PTA handled the story of both characters reminded me of the way we sort of see the Judge through the Kid's eyes. Very vague, but I'm not really doing any kind of analysis or anything, it just struck me viscerally PTA was the right man for the job.

[Anonymous No.9602826]

>>9602778
That kind of posits that the filmmaker is going to follow the words exactly and translate the words into images. I'm sure there's a more poetic way of capturing what the book is about.

Also I agree with you. The Master seems to take more from filmic/historic concerns that PTA has. If anything Freddie Quell might be Benny Profane? But I feel it mostly comes from the idea of the 50's explosion of New Agey thinking and the preceding war that allowed for these ideas to flourish.

[Anonymous No.9602830]

>>9602823
>>9602778

What did you guys think of PTA's Inherent Vice? I LOVE the youtube videos of Pynchon's words juxtaposed with images and words. They're kind of like poignant "motion postcards".

The film itself is very moving as well, but I feel has the languor of a novel which I'm not sure is good or bad.

[Anonymous No.9602861]

>>9602817

Well, DFW also hated himself apparently. Maybe Magnolia reminded him of someone.

I'm can't make the connection between the chapter headings and the cover (been a while since I watched Magnolia) but I will take your word for it.

>>9602823
I just feel these parallels are a little too general to be undeniably intentional. Fair enough, though. I'm not sure I would consider PTA the right man for the job, but I wouldn't put it past him to put together something competent if the mood took him. I accept that I'm overestimating my insight, but I imagine he would be indifferent to an adaptation of Blood Meridian for reasons similar to the one I have already outlined. Just because a book is exceptional, doesn't mean an exceptional film can be made from it.

>>9602826
>I'm sure there's a more poetic way of capturing what the book is about.

I partially agree. The question is at what point does a poetic adaptation cease to be an adaptation. I just feel that there's so much room for error here, mainly along the lines of generalizing the essential specificity, and losing the sense of relentlessness and endurance through the syntax of editing.

I would argue, that to carry through any dimension of the book would necessitate leaving out something else significant.

The more eventful and parts of the book, coupled with the dialogue, on the one hand, and the long, arduously beautifully sections between them. I'm not sure there's a nice way to get both on screen without it being a mess. And both seem essential to me.

Not to sound patronizingly obvious, but it's not just a question of making an adaptation, it's a question of making a good one. So my question is, forgetting for a moment what would be necessary to simply make the film, what would be necessary to incorporate so that it would be a good adaptation?

[Anonymous No.9602866]

Same anon here: >>9602861

Just to clarify the question at the end is directed towards any anon who wants to answer it.

>>9602830

I loved it. Absolutely. And I'm not even a reader of Pynchon. Perpetual backlog, and I have spent years slightly turned off by my english grad friends.

[Anonymous No.9602899]

>>9602866
Have your English grad friends become joyless in their appreciation of reading? Snobby?

What I find most challenging are the postmodern allusions a lot of those books contain. It's not that it isn't worthwhile... I just find the need for prerequisite knowledge of postmodern philosophy kind of restrictive. Though it might just be the fact that I'm under educated haha.

[Anonymous No.9602902]

Shadow of the Torturer starring Idris Elba

[Anonymous No.9602904]

>>9602861
As a wanna be filmmaker I agree to the extent that sometimes a piece of fiction - particularly Blood Meridian - the exhilaration of reading comes from the lyricism of the words. Because the music of the text can't be translated literally, and the plot is more or less negligible in its status as a piece of art (I seriously believe this, though its arguable), I think the filmmaker has to find his/her own music. Obviously it has to "feel" like one branch from the same tree.

[Anonymous No.9602906]

>>9602904
But ultimately as Kubrick said: "if it can be thought it can be filmed"

[Anonymous No.9602911]

>>9602899
Joyless, yes. Snobby, I'm not entirely sure.
They have a love/hate relationship with that sort of elitism. They are capable of reverse-snobbery too.

[Anonymous No.9602914]

>>9602457
Paul Thomas Anderson could probably do it, he directed Inherent Vice and it's better than the book.

[Anonymous No.9602926]

>>9602904
>>9602906

Ah fellow wannabe filmmaker. Have you produced anything yet? I have one (fairly long) short and plans to make a few more over the summer.

I think there are plot points there, they just don't develop and motivate one another in any traditional sense. More like they pile up in a wonderful way.

Kubrick was a bit of a blowhard from time to time though, wasn't he? Brilliant no doubt, but a bit of a blowhard. I feel the same about McCarthy! His comment to the effect that only books about life and death make sense to him. It all reeks of "genius licence", which, by the way, I'm not against. Nothing more boring and deflationary than excessively humble and evasive filmmakers/writers/etc.

>>9602902
Garbed in fuligin he might look like a whitey.

[Anonymous No.9602950]

>>9602926
Haha nice to see someone going through the same thing. I also have a fairly long short done (which I'm not extremely happy with, but that's another story). I find the most challenging thing about film making is the learning curve. It seems that no matter how much exposure you've had to making little movies as a kid, the language and grammar of film has to be re digested unless you're a Spielberg (but I think even he had to redevelop his visual language). This is not to mention the execution of the visuals you see in your head (i.e., lighting it just right, choosing the proper lenses, coordinating the right movement with the actors and cam-op, etc.)

But isn't it such a wonderful art form? I think the idea that film is a dead art from the 20th century is such bull - at the end of the day it's the art of making tangible perception and memory, which doesn't die with all this VR tech.

Re: Kubrick as a blowhard... I don't think so. I think it's a complex combination of things that make his persona that way, but again that's another discussion.

I hope we do well in these coming years, man. It's time for fresh blood and it's the best time to be alive, as a filmmaker and otherwise. Lalaland is good for all of us, kind of like Pulp Fiction refreshing tradition and giving other filmmakers their chance to start.

[Anonymous No.9602956]

>>9602926
Also as far as the way plot points not developing per usual: what do you think about more experimental storytelling techniques as far as film is concerned?

I find the kind of "episodic" narrative or kind of "random piling up" works for the form if done correctly. I just can't quite put my finger on how exactly to do it in a manner that best utilizes the peculiarities of cinema.

Like for example something like Last Year at Marienbad is a complete nonsensical dream... which works for what it's trying to do but seeing it with a modern audience all you can feel are people falling asleep or laughing. I'm still convinced you can do it in the right context.

[Anonymous No.9602958]

>>9602950
Post your short and I'll give you feedback, if you like.

I can't post mine. Festival eligibility issues.

[Anonymous No.9602968]

>>9602958
Haha same here man. Going through the festival racket as well.

I can't help but feel like it perhaps isn't the way anymore... it worked for the 90's directors and the people coming up in the early 2000's, but at the moment is so over saturated with films. On the one hand you can say that if you do something good it'll stand out all the more. But on the other hand I'm finding it tougher and tougher to find funding to make the shorts I feel are worth making. In other words I'm just focusing on writing the feature and trying to get it up and running.

If you look at the filmmakers who learned how to make films while working on their first features (Wong Kar Wai, Orson Welles, Tarantino), it seems that the idea of using a short to learn your trade is only good to a point.

For example, one thing that doing the short taught me is to be more specific in designing sequences of movement. You can kind of apply all those lessons to a film, it's just crafting movements of emotion like a short but expanding it. If anything I almost feel like doing a feature would be easier... there is time to breath and create verisimilitude. Whereas I feel maybe the way I approached making shorts is to make a short version of a narrative, now I think the best thing to do is to look at shorts as a little dream.

Though I'm sure you probably tackled your film with better instincts. I have a very self sabotaging mind haha

[Anonymous No.9602983]

>>9602968
That's a very interesting point about making a feature instead of adding another short to an over saturated market.

I have a friend who has made perhaps 10 shorts, one of which screened and Cannes, and he says it's useless for the most part.

Nah mate, my first short offends me now. It's better than art student tier, but it's nothing like I imagined or hoped. But similarly to yourself I learned plenty.

[Anonymous No.9603011]

>>9602983
Godspeed to you dude.

Maybe we'll meet someday and not know we talked before haha